Honolulu Community College's Early Childhood Education Program Among First to Receive National Accreditation

HONOLULU — The Keiki Hau'oli Children's Center at Honolulu Community College, part of HCC‘s Early Childhood Education program, is one of the first in the country to be accredited under new professional standards. The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) evaluated the program utilizing more than 400 criteria in 13 areas. The accreditation is for five years from January 31, 2008.

The Center‘s accreditation was based in part on scores against ten standards of excellence in early childhood education in the areas of positive relationships, curriculum, effective teaching approaches, ongoing assessments, nutrition and health, teaching staff, collaborative relationships with each child‘s family, effective community resources and relationships, physical environment, and overall high quality experiences.

Programs seeking accreditation must also complete a self-assessment and meet fundamental licensing, staffing, health and safety requirements. The final step is an on-site visitation by highly-trained NAEYC assessors. Subsequent unannounced visits ensure that programs continue to meet NAEYC standards.

The NAEYC Academy for Early Childhood Program Accreditation has provided national professional accreditation to America's Early Childhood Education centers since 1985. The new standards were set by a national commission of experts in early childhood education, curriculum, early childhood special education, child health, family involvement, leadership, and program administration. The new accreditation process took five years to design and implement.

Programs eligible for NAEYC accreditation include child care centers, preschools and prekindergartens, kindergartens, and other center-based programs serving children from birth through kindergarten. There are currently more than 11,000 NAEYC-accredited programs serving approximately 1 million children.

NAEYC is the world‘s largest organization working on behalf of young children and has nearly 100,000 members, a national network of more than 300 local, state and regional affiliates, and a growing global alliance of similar organizations.